


koralie oneshot

by honeythistles



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29414190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeythistles/pseuds/honeythistles
Summary: a short story I wrote for valentine's day :)
Relationships: Councillor Kenric/Councillor Oralie (Keeper of the Lost Cities)
Kudos: 6





	koralie oneshot

“Kenric,” Oralie breathed, scanning the foreign surroundings in awe, “This is beautiful! Where are we?”

“Well, I believe this is what humans call the Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego,” Kenric replied, “Come on, let’s explore,” 

They started walking up a dirt path, stepping over rocks and trying not to trample the little flowers growing across the vast hill. Oralie looked around curiously, trying to satisfy her heart’s wonder. Some parts of the hills had weeds and grass covering the dusty brown soil like a thick, lush blanket, some parts with only patches of grass here and there, while in a distance a meadow of cornflowers could be seen thriving, all of them coming together to paint a scenery of nature. It was, to Oralie, one of the prettiest sights she’s ever witnessed. 

She glanced at Kenric, silently thanking him for offering to take her here. The Council had one of its rare off days, and Kenric suggested that they go to somewhere “special” for a change. Oralie’s heart tripled its pace when she heard that, but she agreed, telling herself that they were just going as “friends who were exploring a new place”. And she couldn’t help but feel the smallest bit of disappointment stemming inside her now, when she realised it was turning out to be what she thought.

Were they really just going to stay as friends?

“So,” Kenric said, snapping Oralie back to reality and breaking the silence, “How do you like it?”

“I love it. Thank you for bringing me here,” Oralie replied, smiling at him. She swore Kenric’s face reddened the tiniest bit, but before she could notice anything else he held her hand and started marching her forward up the slope, a mysterious grin playing around his lips.

“Whoa, where are we going?” Oralie asked, amused at the sudden change. She also noticed that they were holding hands, with their fingers interlocked, which sent her stomach cartwheeling in joy. 

Ugh, one of the voices in her brain groaned, not this again, snap out of it.

“You’ll see, I just hope we’re not too late,” Kenric said.

“Late for w-“

Oralie’s question got cut off by someone shouting, or more specifically, a child.

“MOM!” a little girl, who looked no older than the age of seven, yelled angrily, “Amy took Ella again!” 

She pointed to a younger girl, who was hugging an elephant soft toy, turning it away from her. Oralie stared at them, watching their mother and father trying to resolve their argument. Her eyes fell on the older girl, wondering why she looked so different from her parents and, was it her sister? Oralie didn’t know much about humans, but she knew that their family members looked alike. Which made her wonder why her family members had green eyes, round faces, and brown hair, while she had brown eyes, a slightly sharp chin, and blonde hair.

Oralie felt her heart stop as realisation struck her. Confusion and shock flooded her entire being, leaving her brain in short circuit. This girl… she couldn’t be, right? And even if she was… how on earth did Kenric know? 

She turned her head towards Kenric, who looked at her with a knowing look in his eyes. Oralie opened her mouth, trying to say something, but nothing could come out, so she just stared at Kenric, waiting for him to say something.

“It’s her,” Kenric said softly, nodding towards the blonde haired girl, “That’s Sophie,”

“Sophie…” Oralie repeated numbly, shifting her focus towards the family.

“How did you know?” she managed to say next.

Kenric’s face flushed, “I might have accidentally overheard a conversation you had with someone over your Imparter when I was getting a drink at your house the other day, and it wasn’t exactly hard to figure it out. After that I did some research and found where she was living, and I thought you would have liked to see her,” 

Everything came back to Oralie so clearly, and she remembered how the mysterious Mr Forkle had finally answered her calls, and she pleaded with him to reveal just a small piece of information about her child, but he firmly refused, leaving her devastated.

And now Sophie was standing right in front of her.

“Hey,” Kenric said, sounding worried, “Are you alright? I’m sorry, maybe I should’ve told you that this was going to happen. We can go back if you want,”

“No it’s alright, I just…” she sighed, “...can’t believe you know about this. Does anyone else know?”

Kenric shook his head vehemently, “I would never betray your trust, Ora”

Before Oralie could express her relief, something soft landed at her feet. She glanced down, noticing it was the same blue elephant Sophie and Amy had been arguing over. 

Sophie came running over to her, face flustered and sweaty. Oralie was hit with a wave of panic. What was she supposed to do? Pick up her toy and that’s it? There were days where Oralie would daydream endlessly about what she would do if she ever met her daughter, and yet when it became a reality she had no idea what to do at all. But Sophie was approaching her, and she had to do something so she picked up the bright blue elephant and patted it, shaking off the dust on its coat of fur.

“Is this yours?” she asked Sophie slowly, hoping her English was understandable. The little girl’s eyes lit up as she nodded, taking the elephant from Oralie.

“Yeah, but my sister keeps taking it from me. She’s soooo annoying and she’s always saying she hates me,” Sophie complained, rolling her eyes.

Oralie smiled sadly at the child in front of her, and a strong surge of emotion suddenly overcame her, compelling her to kneel down so that their eyes were level.

“Your sister probably just wants to have something to play with too, and besides, I don’t think anyone will want to hate such a pretty and lively girl like you, so don’t take it too seriously, okay?”

Sophie wasn’t not completely sure why a random stranger was being so kind to her, but she nodded anyway, waving bye to Oralie as she ran off to join her family. 

Oralie stood up again, throwing herself towards Kenric, sobbing as the tears she tried so hard to hold back unleashed themselves, whispering her thanks to him over and over again. 

Kenric returned her hug, patting her back gently as he led her to a large boulder nearby. They sat down, Oralie slowly regaining her composure. With a shaky voice, she mumbled softly, “You must hate me so much now,”

Kenric let out a quiet chuckle, “Why would I? You know too well that I’ll never hate you,”

Oralie shook her head in protest, “But you know that I took part in project moonlark even t-though it’s against the rules!”

“I know it is, and I still won’t hate you,” Kenric said firmly. He paused, not knowing if he should carry on, but decided to anyway, “But… I want to know why,”

Oralie faced him again, her large, watery eyes carrying streams of apprehension and fear as she debated internally whether to tell him or not. The truth was too painful for her to say, but what lie would suffice? For the world’s future benefit? To help give a new perspective?

Nothing would do, so she said, “I’m sorry Kenric, I can’t do this,”

Kenric nodded, “It’s fine, I understand,”

Oralie’s eyes brimmed with tears again as she felt the wisps of disappointment floating towards her from Kenric. Guilt filled up inside her as she tried to explain to Kenric without having to tell him the truth.

But Kenric wasn’t having any of it. Instead, he placed a finger on her lips, gesturing for her to stay silent. 

“Ora,” he began, “It’s totally okay if you don’t want to tell me your reasons. You’re one of the smartest elves I know, and I believe that there’s a good reason behind whatever you do. And secondly, like I said before, I will never in a million years, hate you, no matter what happens. On the contrary… I love you,”

Oralie’s mouth dropped open at his words and Kenric too, sucked in a deep breath, as though he couldn’t fully believe what he just said, but he continued.

“You’re so beautiful, kind and charismatic, Ora, and there’s no other person I’d rather be with for the rest of my life. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I just had to say it,”

Oralie stared back at Kenric, not believing this was happening right in front of her. She mentally took a step back, his words ringing in her head. I love you, he said, not “I like you”, or “you’re an amazing friend”. The helplessness she felt before faded away, and she felt as though she was finally complete, the person she had loved for the past ten years loving her back.

“I do, I feel the same way,” Oralie said, pouring every bit of sincerity she had into her words, “The truth is, I’ve had feelings for you for a very long time, but I was too scared to say it. Scared that you won’t like me back, or that it’ll cause a scandal, but here we are,” 

“Here we are indeed,” Kenric repeated, warm relief flooding his chest. The invisible barrier holding them back was finally broken. Kenric pulled Oralie close, pressing his lips against Oralie’s. Her eyes widened in surprise, but her instincts made her kiss him back and when they both pulled away, their faces were ones filled with pure bliss and joy as they sat close on the rocky boulder, admiring the beautiful scenery ahead of them.

“Together,” Oralie whispered, resting her head on Kenric’s shoulder.

“Forever,” Kenric whispered back.


End file.
